Nicholas Latifi went fastest in Free Practice 3 for the Hungarian Grand Prix in an entertaining session, as drivers did their wet-weather research at a rain-soaked Hungaroring.
The Williams driver set his 1min 41.480sec right at the death in improving conditions, after Charles Leclerc led most of the hour with a low 1min 43sec lap.
Latifi’s tour was ultimately 0.6sec clear of Leclerc, with his team-mate Alex Albon going third quickest, Max Verstappen fourth, 1.7sec off the headline Williams time, and George Russell, who had complained of having no grip for most of the hour, rounding out the top five.
Fernando Alonso had appeared competitive throughout the session, being in and around the sharp end for most of FP3 as he tried different compounds.
Another midfield competitor looking handy was Sebastian Vettel, who was third fastest with ten minutes left before crashing at Turn 10, bringing out the red flag.
Cars got back out for four minutes before the session ended, which is when times started to tumble and Latifi set his fastest lap. With the sun coming out towards the end of FP3, the F1 grid is prepared for changeable conditions going into qualifying.
Read about qualifying as it happened below.
2022 Hungarian Grand Prix FP1 round-up
Most drivers opted for the medium or hard tyre early in the session, but Ferrari and Red Bull went for the softs straight away.
This was evident in the lap times and Verstappen’s 1min 21.235 sec set the pace early on ahead of Sainz.
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However, eyes were mainly on Aston Martin which caught attention with its new rear wing endplates.
With the downforce-enhancing upgrade, both drivers completed a solid session, finishing P11 and P12, led by Sebastian Vettel.
Ten minutes in, Leclerc swept to the top of the timesheet, going half a second faster than anybody else, with Verstappen splitting the Ferrari’s.
While the times tumbled, Perez and Norris remained in the pits for the first part of the session; Norris only emerging with 27 minutes left on the clock. His team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was having some joy on the track, showing strong pace on the medium tyre.
The top three drivers repeatedly exchanged positions in the first half of the session but Ferrari continued to have the edge and its drivers were the first to go below 1min 20sec.
A greater challenge came halfway through the session as more teams strapped on the soft tyres: Hamilton went fourth, then Russell jumped to second while Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda went up into the top 10 on the soft compound.
McLaren’s medium pace remained evident, as both drivers remained in the top ten without using soft tyres, until the final ten minutes.
By that time, Sainz was quickest with a 1min 18.750sec lap, edging Verstappen.
2022 Hungarian Grand Prix FP1 results
Position
Driver
Team
Time
1
Carlos Sainz
Ferrari
1min 18.750sec
2
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
1min 18.880sec
3
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
1min 19.039sec
4
Lando Norris
McLaren
1min 19.299sec
5
George Russell
Mercedes
1min 19.606sec
6
Sergio Perez
Red Bull
1min 19.622sec
7
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1min 19.710sec
8
Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren
1min 19.841sec
9
Esteban Ocon
Alpine
1min 20.348sec
10
Fernando Alonso
Alpine
1min 20.377sec
11
Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin
1min 20.383sec
12
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin
1min 20.414sec
13
Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri
1min 20.456sec
14
Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri
1min 20.695sec
15
Zhou Guanyu
Alfa Romeo
1min 20.810sec
16
Alex Albon
Williams
1min 20.834sec
17
Kevin Magnussen
Haas
1min 20.921sec
18
Mick Schumacher
Haas
1min 21.027sec
19
Robert Kubica
Alfa Romeo
1min 21.179sec
20
Nicholas Latifi
Williams
1min 21.413sec
2022 Hungarian Grand Prix FP2 round-up
Unlike FP1, Ferrari and Red Bull started on the medium tyre with only Williams going for the softs. That enabled Alex Albon to set the sixth fastest time inside the opening 5 minutes.
Leclerc was fastest of the frontrunners once all had set their initial times, dipping under 1min 18sec. Nobody would match it for some time as they continued to circulate, changing positions on the timesheet behind the Ferrari driver.
There was a hint of disbelief in Hamilton’s voice when he was told the deficit to Leclerc: “1.9 to the same tyre,” he said aghast over team radio.
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It was 27 minutes until Leclerc was knocked off his perch — by Lando Norris running the soft compound.
Not everyone was so in harmony with their tyres: Albon porpoised down the start-finish straight then locked up his rear tyres and spun off at Turn 1.
Russell was also locking up his rear tyres at the opening hairpin on several laps. “What the hell is going on at Turn 1?” he asked over team radio. “I just cannot get round the corner without locking.”
As the time ran down, more teams fitted the soft tyres and Alonso jumped up to third, Vettel one behind, Hamilton sixth, Stroll eighth and Russell ninth.
Then all of those times were beaten by Leclerc, who went fastest by a couple of tenths with a 1min 18.445sec.
His team-mate joined him on that compound going third behind Norris, with Red Bull initially only good enough for fourth and eighth on the softs.
The final 20 minutes then saw drivers go back onto the medium tyre with McLaren even opting for hards.
Norris recorded a 1min 24.801sec on that compound, so with drivers now going through their various testing programmes, the timesheet remained unchallenged.
2022 Hungarian Grand Prix FP2 results
Position
Driver
Team
Time
1
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
1min 18.445sec
2
Lando Norris
McLaren
1min 18.662sec
3
Carlos Sainz
Ferrari
1min 18.676sec
4
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
1min 18.728sec
5
Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren
1min 18.872sec
6
Fernando Alonso
Alpine
1min 19.049sec
7
Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin
1min 19.253sec
8
George Russell
Mercedes
1min 19.355sec
9
Sergio Perez
Red Bull
1min 19.397sec
10
Valtteri Bottas
Alfa Romeo
1min 19.411sec
11
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1min 19.547sec
12
Zhou Guanyu
Alfa Romeo
1min 19.605sec
13
Esteban Ocon
Alpine
1min 19.614sec
14
Lance Stroll
Alston Martin
1min 19.702sec
15
Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri
1min 19.730sec
16
Kevin Magnussen
Haas
1min 19.818sec
17
Mick Schumacher
Haas
1min 19.985sec
18
Nicholas Latifi
Williams
1min 20.488sec
19
Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri
1min 20.521ec
20
Alex Albon
Williams
1min 20.615sec
FP3
With rain hammering down drivers were hesitant to head out, but both Ferraris hit the track with almost five minutes gone.
Leclerc had a scary moment of oversteer before the first chicane but kept it on the road – soon almost all the cars were circulating at a rain-soaked Hungaroring.
Ferrari’s Monegasque then set the fastest early lap with a 1min 43.364sec. “I think the inters could be a good option, there’s not too much aquaplaning,” he told the Scuderia soon after.
One driver not on track was Lewis Hamilton, his W13 needing a last-minute legality check after changes to the floor.
Leclerc was almost a second clear of team-mate Sainz with Alonso third-quickest, albeit 2.4sec off the fastest Ferrari. The Alpine was clearly putting a lot of stock in the running of FP3, switching between wets and inters in a busy programme.
Aston Martin had shown improved performance on Friday with its new aero updates, and the Silverstone machines looked quick again as Vettel and Stroll filed in third and fourth – they were 2.2sec and 2.4sec off the pace respectively.
Gasly, Albon and Zhou all slid off at Turn 4, and with almost 20 minutes gone neither Hamilton or either Red Bull had set a lap.
Vettel the went second as he got within 8.sec of Leclerc, while Magnussen jumped up to fourth in his upgraded Haas on 1min 44.456sec, with his team-mate Schumacher half a second behind.
At the halfway point still neither Red Bull had emerged, as Russell reported “No grip – struggling a lot”.
With 20 minutes left Lando Norris, who took pole at a wet Sochi last year, posted a time good enough for fourth, 1.2sec off Leclerc’s headline lap.
Russell headed out for a speculative outlap on inters, but came straight back in without driving in anger.
Verstappen next headed out on intermediates with less than 20 minutes of the session gone, whilst Albon showed how conditions were beginning to come towards that compound with a time good enough for sixth o 1min 44.919sec, before Alonso displaced him by going 0.3sec quicker.
Not everyone was enjoying them: “I’ve got absolutely no grip at the moment,” Ricciardo told McLaren.
“For some reason my rears feel like ice – oh my god,” areed Schumacher, as Leclerc performed an elegant double pirouette coming out of Turn 3.
Russell went back to the wet tyres and went straight off at Turn 12, clearly stillnot enjoying the conditions.
Alonso’s hard work paid off, as he got to within 0.2sec of Leclerc on the intermediate tyres with ten minutes to go.
Moments later Vettel, who had announced his retirement at the weekend, lost the rear end of his Aston Martin at Turn 10, wedging it into the barriers.
“Sorry, **** – aargh,” was his exclamation on the radio and the crash brought out the red flag.
It looked like the session might over, but cars did manage did get out for four minutes of green flag running, as Leclerc and Verstappen traded fastest laps on intermediates, before a shock name hit the top – Nicholas Latifi.
The Williams driver went 0.6sec clear of the field on the drying track, with his team-mate Albon 0.9sec away in third. Leclerc was in the Williams sandwich, Verstappen fourth and Russell fifth.